Transmission mechanism



March 31, 1925.

' G. C. FILE TRANSMISSION MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 10, 1924 A TToRNE Ys G, C. FILE TRANSMISSION MECHANISM Filed March l0 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet' 2 l INVENTOR 67 lf2/e ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 31, 1925.

Unirse sin .res

GORDON CLINTON FILE, 0F BUCHANAN, MICHIGAN.

TRANSMISSON MECHANISM.

Application filed March 10, 1924. Serial No. 698,252.

To all whom t may conce/rn.:

Be it known that I, GORDON CLINTON FILE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Buchanan, in the county of Berrien and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful improvement in Transmission hiechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

lily invention relates to improvements in transmission inechanism,and Iit consists in the combinations7 constructions and arrangements herein described and claimed.

iin object of my invention is to provide a transmission mechanism in which all of the gears are constantly in mesh and which has keys of novel construction for locking certain oi' these gears to the shaft on which they are disposed, these keys only engaging with the gears when the gears are disposed in such relation with respect to the keys, as to permit the keys to positively engage there- 4with. i

ii further object of my invention is to provide a device of the kind described in which the keys are constructed so as to prevent the gears they engage with from` rotating in either direction with respect to the shaft.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the type described in which the portion of the keys that engages with the gears is shaped so as to obviate the necessity of machining` the key to a fine degree of accuracy.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the type described which has means for positively locking the` keys against movement, when the-keys operatively engage with their respective gears.

i .further object of my invention is to provide a device of the type described in which the keys yieldingly engage with thegears, whereby the lkeys are adapted to swing ont of engagement for an instant, in case the keys should not engage with the gears'at the proper time, the keys being adapted to swing into engagement with the gears and to be locked in place when the gears are in proper position to receive the keys.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of t-he type described in which one key is adapted to be moved into engagement with two gears, whereby a four speed transmission device may be controlled by tivo keys. l

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the type described which is adapted to make use of two keys for each gear, one key preventing the gear from rotatineI in one direction with respect to the shaft while the other key prevents the rotation of the gear in the opposite direction. .fi further objection of my invention isto provide a device of thetype described which is especially adapted for transmission devices in automobiles, although it may be applied to any variable speed mechanism that has one ormore different speeds. Y

@ther objects and advantages will appear in the `following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed ont in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accomi panying drawings formingpart of this application, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section through the device.

Figure 2 is a detailed View of a portion of the device.

' Figure 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Figure l.

Figure 4 is a section along the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a sectional view of a modified form of the device.

in carrying out my invention I provide a casing 1 that carries a gear shift lever 2. rlhe gear shift lever 2 is adapted to be actuated in the same manner as the standard gear shift lever in an automobile. As will be noted from Figure 3 the lever 2 is adapted to be swung into operative engagement with the rod 3 or the rod 4. The rods 3 and 4 have forks 5 and 6, these forks being adapted to receive the lower end 7 of the lever 2. llhe rod 3 is operatively connected by means of an arm 8 to the second and third speed gears, while the rod 4V is operativelyl connected by means of an arm 9 to the reverse and rst speed gears. yThe rod 3 when moved in the direction of the arrow, shown in Figure 3, shifts the transmission mechanism into second speed. The spring pressed ball 10 in this instant will be received in the notch 11. Vhen the rod 3 is moved in the opposite direction, until the balllO enters the recess 12, the-transmission mechanism will be in third or high speed. In like manner the rod 4 when moved in the directionof the arrow will shift vthe mechanism into reverse when a spring pressed ball 18 is `received in the notch 14, while the transmission mechanism will be,k in first speed sov when the ball 18 is received in the notch 15.

A pin 1G prevents either one of the rods 3 or from being accidentally moved when the other rod is beingmoved.

ln Figures l and 2 l have shown how the arms 8 and 9 are connected to the gear engaging' keys 17 and 18, whereby a movement of the arms 8 or 9 will shift the mechanism into reverse, first, second or third speed at the will of the operator. From Figure 1 it will be noted that the power shaft or driving` shaft 19 is connected to an intermediate shaft 2O by means of a gear 2l and a rllie gear 22 has a sleeve 23 upon which are mounted gears 2st, 25, and

l have shown the gears as being` integral, gli these `ogears may be separately mounted upon the shai't 2O it desired, without departing` from the spirit and scope of my invention. The gear 2a is in mesh with a second speed gear 27, while the 25 is in mesh with a first speed gear n" rlhe gear 28 is in mesh with the LO. reverse speed vgear 29 by means of an intermediate gear not shown.

rlhe Vroars 27, 28, and 29 are loosely mounted upon a driven lshaft 80. rlhis is rotatably mounted in the inner end i the shalEL 19 and is also rotatably carried the casing-j 1 at 81. rlhe gears 27,28, and are adapted to rotate independently 01"' each other and are mounted upon collars 82, 84, and From ligure 2 it will be noted that the collars are secured in place upon the shaft 30 by means of keys 36. Each of these leys has a pin 37 that is adapted to enter a collar, whereby the collars are held against longitudinal movement with respect to the shaft 80. The lreys 86 are placed end to end, and the last lrey isheld in place by means of a set screw 88. rlhe keys are received in a groove 89 in the shaft 30.'

its heretofore stated the gear engnginilreys 1'? and 18 are adapted to operatively connect the gears on the shaft 8O to the shaft. To eli'ect this operation ll have provided gears 2T, 28, and 29 with recesses 10 that have tapered walls L1-1, see Figure lreys 1'? and 18 have arms that have projections i and that are Ui The 'de` et' the projections .i-/lr and l5 are tapered in the san e manner as the walls 41 ln Figure 1, l h

M and i5 as beV i TTS of the recesses el). shown the projections disposed beneath th collars 82 and espectively. li new however the lrey 17 i 18 moved 'from their position shown in Fia ure 1. It should be noted that the keys, as shown in Figure 2, will not be in the positions `illustrated at the saine time, since it woul'l be .impossibleto connect the third speed gear i8 and the reverse gear 2f) to the shaft 80 at the same time. The keys 17 and 18 are merely shown in this position to more clearly illustrate the operation of the device.

The lreys are slidably mounted in grooves L17 and i8 in the shaft 80. The lrey 17 has its arm pivotally secured to a body portion 9 of the hey by mez-ins of a pin 50. The body portion 119 has a recess 1 that receives part of the arm i groove 52 is provided inthe body portion 49 and receives a rin that is slidably mounted upon the shaft The ring,` 58 in turn is ceived in a groove 54- oit the arm 8A The lrey 18 constructed in identical the same manner as the lrey 17 except 'for the fact that the arm 18 is shorter than the arm ft2. rlhe ring connects the key 18 with the Arom the foregoing" description of the various parts of the device the operation thereof may be readily understood. issume that the driver wishes to shift from neutral into i'irst speed. lle swings the lever 2 so as to engage with the rod uid to move the rod in the opposite direction from the arrow hewn in lili `ire rthis movement moves the ring 5o and the hey 18 so as to release the projection 45 from the collar and positioiA the projection beneath one ot' the recesses el() in the first speed gear A spring pressed pin 5G swings the arm 2 so t ject-ion elo into the recess projection is ireed from the collar will be noted from Figure l that pressed pin 56 always bears a ainst while a spring;` pressed p51 against the arm As heithe sides oi the projection so as to Contact with the sic.

vo move the pro- 18, as soon the to wedgrein the recesses so a; to provide a 28 and en the .free r positive connection betw the shaft 80.

it should be noted at this point walls of the recesses .-410 and the the projections #lo do not l chined to a tine degree o? accru the tapered walls olii' the proyecion. are adapted to wedge into the tapered walls ot the recess even though the contacting` parts are not accurately finished. Furthern in case of wear between the proj'e the wall of the recess, the arm w swung further so as to move the projection a greater distance into the recess and thus automatically take up the wear. As soon when the recess i0 was not in alinement With the projection, the projection wouldv merely remain in the position shown in Figure .1., until the recess comes into aline ment with the projection. The projection l5 will enter one of the recesses i0 asV soon as the recess is alined with the projection. ln this Way 1 have provided a novel means for permitting the key i8 to lock the gear 28 to the shaft. 30, only when one of the recesses d0 is in alinement with the projection 45.

1n shifting from. iirst speed to second speed the rod d is first moved so as to move the key 18 back into the position shown in Figure l. The lever 2 now actuates the arm 8 and the key i7 so `as 'to swing the projection 4d into one of the recesses 40 in the second speed gear 27., it will be noted from Figure ll that the sides 58 ofthe projection are tapered so to permit the projection to slide loen neath the collar 82 When the projection is moved past the collar. in shifting" from second speed to third speed the projection lli moved from the gear 27 to one of the recesses 40 in the third speed mechanism t?. The shaft 19 is now directly connected to the shaft 30.

The keys 17 and 18 are locked against movement when they are moved into engagement with their respective gears. It will be seen from Figure i that the grooves 4:7 have a lug 59 and a hook 60 disposed therein, Vilhcn the projection 44 is in one of the recesses l0 in the third speed mechanisni 1L-6, the arm i2 will bear against the lug 59, see Figure 2, and will be prevented from swinging back into the groove. Vlhen the projection d4; connects the gear 27 with the shaft 80 tho inner end of the arm .12 will be received by the hook (i0. The hook GO prevents the projection ed from moving out of cgagement with the gear 47. The groove i8 has a lug 6l and a hook G2 that performs the saine function as the lug 59 and the hook 60. the hooks 60 and 62 positively lock the arms 4t2 and i8 against movement, when these arms are in operative engagement ilS ywith any one of the gears.

@ne principal advantage of the device lies in the fact that the arms l2 and t8 are swung` up into engagement with their resjiective gears, instead of being rocked into engagement as heretofore stated. This rlhe lugs 59 and tloandV construction permits the arms to swing out of engagement vwith their gears in case one of the recesses inthe gears should be out of alinement with the am and Valso permits the projection on the arm to swing further into the recessg'incase the pron jection has become slightly Worn. 1t will also be noted that two keys are sufficient for four speeds. it is desired to lock the gears to the shaft by more than one key it is merely necessary to add more grooves to thc shaft and to dispose additional keys in these grooves." No part of the key has to be accurately finished since the projection will lock itself in the gear recess due to the Afact that it is Wedgeshaped. rilhe key can therefore be more cheaply made than can keys which have to be accurately finished. The Wet geshaped projection. also permits the key to properly function even though slightly vvorn.

rllhe keys are not rocked into engagement, with the gears and therefore the grooves receiving the keys do not have to be rounded. This is another saving in the cost of mani facture. 'lhe keys consist of a body portion and an arm or lever pivotally secured to the body portion. The body portieril may be swung with respect to the arm when vit is desired to'remove the key from the groove, thus obviating the necessity of dismantling the mechanism Whenver -it is dssired to change keys.v The only part of the key subjected to Wear is the projection. in addition of a neitT arm to the body portion therefore Will be all that .is necessary to make the key function as a nen7 one.

1n Figure 5 1 have shown'a modified form of the device, this form being identical to the preferred form except that tvvo locking keys are provided for each gear in place of one. The keys and 76 are for second and` third speeds and are shovvn in operative position. rlhe gear engaging lug 77 is adapted to prevent the gear from rotating in one direction With respect to the shaft 8O While the lug 78 on the key 76 prevents the gear from rotating in the 0pposite direction. Keys V79 and 8O are for first and reverse speeds and prevent the rotation of these gears in either direction in the same manner as keys 75 and 76. Each of the lugs 77, 78, and 81, and 82 has a beveled'side 83 that does not operatively engage With its respective gear.

I claim: i

l. In a transmission mechanism, a shaft having grooves therein, gears loosely mounted on said shaft, keys slidably disposed in said grooif'es and comprising a body portion, and arms pivotally secured to said i body portion, each key being adapted to move its arm into operative engagement 

